An Unplayable Metal Gear Solid Game Is Finally Returning After 18 Years

Published Aug 4, 2026, 7:00 PM EDT Tom Wilson is a Gaming Features Writer at Screen Rant. Over the past five years, Tom has worked as the Editor-in-Chief at The Game Crater, as a Staff Writer for GamingIntel, a List Writer at TheGamer, and, of course, as a Senior Writer at ScreenRant. Tom has experience writing reviews, guides, news, and features, and has been responsible for teams of writers, training them and editing their work. Tom graduated with a Masters in Multimedia Journalism, and has since gone on to build up his portfolio of games journalism work. Metal Gear Solid is a phenomenal series and a testament to how both the stealth genre can actually be rather fun and how video games can ostensibly just be movies with a smattering of gameplay sequences. Kojima's masterful work on the series not only brought him critical acclaim, but cemented him as one of the finest developers of all time. It is thanks to his expert direction on the several hour-long cutscenes, incredibly creative vision for its genre-defining gameplay, and passion for nonsensical philosophical thrillers that MGS ended up working so well. However, despite being some of the greatest games of all time, a feat that still leads fans to desperately await the next Metal Gear Solid game, there is one game that has remained largely unplayable for nearly 18 years. Ranking rather highly in the series, it has been such a shame to see what remains a legitimately phenomenal MGS game and an enjoyable experience even by modern standards go to waste. Fortunately, that is all ending this year, as this once unplayable Metal Gear Solid game is finally getting the second chance in the spotlight it very much deserves. Metal Gear Solid has made a bit of a comeback over the past few years after the unfortunate departure of Kojima from Konami. The release of Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater proved immensely successful, not just critically and commercially, but with dedicated fans who long to see Kojima regain control over the franchise. Additionally, the first Metal Gear Solid Master Collection bundled together some of the series' best games and made them accessible in a way many of them hadn't been before. While all of this is short of a brand-new release in the series, it has given Konami a little bit of good will and seen the franchise become even more popular, which it absolutely deserves. Fortunately, this exciting run of releases isn't going anywhere any time soon, as Metal Gear Solid is making another return in 2026, this time with the launch of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, a game that has been trapped for almost 18 years and deserves far more fanfare than it is currently getting. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots launched on PlayStation 3 as an exclusive back in 2008. That was 18 years ago, and since then, the title has not gotten a modern port, remaster, or re-release. It has been trapped on the platform, something that has proven challenging for those who don't already own a PS3 or didn't have the foresight to hang onto theirs for nearly two decades. Of course, games being trapped on old hardware isn't anything new, but it is particularly noteworthy in the case of MGS4. After all, Guns of the Patriots is the fourth entry in a beloved series that has somehow been largely abandoned by Konami. This isn't some obscure JRPG or platformer from decades past that only a handful of people remember. MGS4 released after the series had garnered critical and commercial acclaim, helped expand upon its already enormous narrative, and is the entry released before the series' best-selling game. It's somewhat baffling, then, that it has taken the studio this long to do anything with the game. Fortunately, Metal Gear Solid 4's remastered 2026 port comes with a slew of improvements that make the wait worthwhile. It's also great to see the entire collection finally brought to modern platforms through the Master Collection. Ultimately, one cannot complain too much about how long it takes a game to be ported to current gen consoles, considering it is actually getting a port. The fact that Metal Gear Solid 4, after 18 years, will be playable on PS5, not to mention Nintendo and Xbox consoles finally, is amazing, and something we should all be celebrating.